Shammi Kapoor
Shammi kapoor too is regarded as the top hero and later a character artist of the golden era of hindi cinema and earned tremendous name and fame in his long career of 50 years in the industry. He had grown up in a family that commanded huge respect for art and artists and much like his father, Prithviraj Kapoor, Shammi also grew up to be an actor. His spontaneity on screen was loved by the audience and he continued to entertain his fans throughout his filmy career . Shammi Kapoor, who was hailed as ‘Elvis Presley of India’ ; had joined the hindi silver screen at a time when his elder brother Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar were the reigning and dominant trio.Despite his family background, Shammi’s entry into Bollywood was initially not successful even though he worked with major heroines like Madhubala in film Rail ka Dibba (1953) , with Suraiya in film ‘Shama Parwana’ and with Nalini Jaywant in film ‘Hum Sab Chor Hai ( 1956) and few others . His initial movies flopped commercially but he reinvented himself with film ‘Tumsa Nahi Dekha’ ( 1957) and Dil deke Dekho ( 1959) cutting his hairs in the famous duck-tail style of the 50s and never looked back after that . With the super success of his film Junglee in 1961, his new image was cemented and his subsequent films were mostly romantic comedies an the entire decade of 1960s reeled under their colourful impact.He heralded the swinging 60s and a large part of his appeal was primarily due to the immensely catchy and upbeat songs like Suku Suku सूकू सूकू , O Haseena Zulfo Wali ओ हसीना ज़ुल्फ़ों वाली , Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyar Ke Charche आज कल तेरे मेरे प्यार के चर्चे, Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyar Tera आजा आजा मैं हूँ प्यार तेरा, where he was at his boisterous ( energetic and cheerful) best and delivered hit movies centered around him often pairing with new actresses such as Asha Parekh, Saira Banu, Sharmila Tagore and Sadhana with all of them in course of time became very successful heroines.
During this period Shami kapoor did very successful and popular films like :-
Junglee जंगली
Rajkumar राजकुमार
Professor प्रोफ़ेसर
Dil Tera Diwana दिल तेरा दीवाना
China Town चाईना टाउन
Kashmir Ki Kali कश्मीर की कली
Bluff Master बलफ मास्टर
Janwar जानवर
and Teesri Manzil तीसरी मंज़िल
He made a unique place for himself in the film industry as he was the only dancing hero in films . He used to compose his dancing steps in the songs and never needed a choreographer and that earned him the name of Elvis Presley of India .Incidentally Elvis Aaron Presley was a famous American singer and actor and was the “King of Rock and Roll” .Again in the late 1960s, his hit films included Budtameez बदतमीज़ and Sachaai सचाई with heroine Sadhana, Brahmachari ब्रह्मचारी with heroine Rajshree, Latt Saheb लाट साहब with Nutan, Tumse Achha Kaun Hai तुमसे अच्छा कौन है with Babita, An Evening in Paris एन इवनिंग इन पेरिस with Sharmila Tagore and Prince प्रिंस with Vyjayanthimala and these films virtually silenced his critics and further raised his stature and popularity amongst audiences. From 1970 onwards Shammi in line with family history started putting up body weight and found himself unfit for key roles and quitely shifted to supporting roles . Film Andaz (1971) and film Chhote Sarkar (1974) were his last films in key role . His notable supporting roles include films namely Parvarish (1977), Prem Rog (1982),Vidhaata (1982), Betaab (1983), Hero (1983), Sohni Mahiwal (1984),Hukumat (1987), Tahalka (1992), Chamatkar (1992),Gardish (1993) and Rockstar in 2011 which was his final film . He overall acted in about 100 films .Shami Kapoor ( birth name samsher raj kapoor) was born at bombay on 21.10.1931 to legendary father -Prithviraj Raj kapoor and was the middle brother of great Raj kapoor and Shashi kapoor . He spent his early childhood in calcutta where his father was working for New theatres studio .Later he did his schooling from Don bosco and New Era School bombay . He touched college and left in 1948 to work in films as a junior artist with his father’s Prithvi theatres and here he worked here for four years . His first film was Jeewan Jyoti released in 1953 . Shammi Kapoor fell in love with Geeta Bali who was the lead lady in his film Miss Coca Cola (1955 ) . They soon got married at Banganga Temple, near Malabar Hills of Mumbai and they had a son, Aditya Raj Kapoor and a daughter, Kanchan Kapoor. Geeta Bali contracted small pox and died on 21 January 1965 at a very young age of 35 . Four years later in 1969 Shammi married Nila Devi Gohil, a princess of Bhavnagar State who took good care of his two children.Kapoor is regarded as one of the most iconic actors of his time , noted for his stylish playboy image , talent and great dancing skills. He was an original and a natural actor who broke the mould of the Hindi film hero, gave an erotic presence and revolutionised the love scenes . He appeared in Box Office India’s “Top Actors’s list four times in 1962, 1964, 65 and 1966 .In 2022, he was placed in Outlook India’s 75 Best Bollywood Actors list.He also received Filmfare awards for best actor for film Professor of 1963 and for film Brahamchari in 1969 and Best Supporting Actor award for film Vidhaata in 1982 .He also got film fare’s life time achievement award in 1995 and Zee Cine Award for Lifetime Achievements in 1999. A postal stamp in his honour was issued in may, 2013 .He died on 14 August 2011, due to kidney failure at the age of 79. His funeral was attended by the entire surviving kapoor clan besides top personalities of film industry . Shammi Saheb and his melodious films will be remembered by cinema lovers for a long long time .
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Six stars
Shami kapoor( His prominent films )
Tumsa Nahin Dekha 1957
Dil Deke Dekho 1959
Junglee 1961
Dil Tera Deewana 1962 Professor 1962
China Town 1962
Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai 1963
Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya 1963
Bluff Master 1963
Rajkumar 1964
Kashmir Ki Kali 1964
Janwar 1965
Teesri Manzil 1966
Budtameez 1966
An Evening in paris 1967
Brahmachari 1968
Prince 1969
Tumse Achha Kaun Hai 1969
Jane Anjane 1971
Preetam1971
Andaz 1971
Zameer 1975
Rocky 1981
Professor pyarelal 1981
Prem Rog 1982
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